by Nathaniel Harrison
BEIRUT - Lebanon groped for political unity Wednesday, amid a standoff between pro- and anti-Syrian forces, as feared Syrian intelligence agents closed up shop in Beirut and headed toward home.
Prime Minister-designate Omar Karameh, a Syrian loyalist, said after consultations that nearly all deputies sympathetic to Syria had backed his call for a national unity government.
Earlier, dozens of security agents in civilian clothes but carrying their automatic weapons boarded two private Lebanese buses and headed toward the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, completing an operation that began Tuesday.
Syrian intelligence officers left the area in individual cars.
The agents had loaded trucks with equipment and personal effects from seafront buildings in Beirut used by Syrian military intelligence and tore down cinderblock sentry boxes.
Lebanese soldiers immediately deployed near the two structures housing the headquarters as youths waving Lebanese flags cheered.
Intelligence units also pulled out of two positions in north Lebanon and likewise headed east toward the Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border.
Western experts estimated that Syria had between 3,000 and 4,000 military intelligence operatives in Lebanon. Their departure, along with some 14,000 troops, is the main demand of both Lebanon's opposition and the UN Security Council.
Karameh resigned as prime minister February 28 in the face of public outrage at the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, widely blamed on Lebanese-Syrian intelligence agents despite denials in Beirut and Damascus.
But he was called back by Syrian-supported President Emile Lahoud last week and has so far made little headway in his bid to put together a national unity cabinet.
"Such a government has no chance of seeing the light of day because the loyalists (to Syria) and the opposition are sticking to diametrically opposed positions," said MP Robert Ghanem.
Energized by a huge public rally on Monday, which drew around a million people into central Beirut, the anti-Syrian opposition is demanding the removal of the public prosecutor, as well as the heads of Lebanon's six security serices, and an international investigation into Hariri's killing.
Backed by the United States and France they are also calling for the expeditious withdrawal of Syrian troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon.
"The designation of Karameh was a mistake," said the pro-Syrian newspaper As-Safir.
"His appeal for a government of national unity and his refusal to take account of opposition demands are also mistakes in light of Monday's demonstration."
Karameh nonetheless intends to pursue a dialogue with opposition leader Walid Jumblatt, the Hariri family and the patriarch of the Maronite Church, Nasrallah Sfeir, who is currently visiting Washington.
But he has also threatened to resign if he fails in his bid for a national unity cabinet.
The political stalemate in Beirut threatens parliamentary elections that should in principle take place by May 31, notably if a government is not in place by the end of March.
Under such circumstances the vote could be postponed and mandate of the current parliament, which ends in June, extended six months to a year.
The crisis is now much broader than simply disagreements on a national unity government, as Jumblatt and several other opposition MPs are calling for the resignation of President Lahoud.
Jumblatt has said the Syrian army, which is in the process of quitting Lebanon, should take Lahoud with it.
03/16/2005 13:04 GMT